Until the end
by Laiver
Summary: When the VRMMORPG of Sword Art Online is changed forever, will the Players fix what burden has been placed upon the world and defeat floor 100 of the iron castle 'Aincrad'. Follow Toruigaya and friends as they venture out to beat the 100 floors of Aincrad.
1. Chapter 1 - The day it all started

The day it all started... The day I won the lottery and was able to buy the same nerve-gear that now holds me prisoner...

"WHAT!?" I had yelled as I double checked the numbers on the card. "WE WON?!" I had stammered as I checked once more. "We did." My mother had replied with a smile. I remember that day like it was yesterday, we won $10,000. My mom had told me I could use half of it, the other half being for my sister. We were so tight on money, we barley had enough to keep the house. I wanted to insist that she use it for something important, but the new game that was being released was calling my name. 'Sword Art Online' for the nerve-gear.

When we got the money, I rushed out to buy the game and was one of the last ones to get my hands on a copy of the glorious game I dreamed of playing. I bought a nerve-gear from my local games shop, they were going out FAST. Once I had gotten home, I put the nerve-gear on. The last thing I saw before I shouted the command was the smiling face of my mother; I miss that face so dearly. "LINK START!" My eyes automatically closed. I seemed to float into a blue void, until I saw those words '**Welcome to Sword Art Online'**...

-**Author's note**-

Sorry this first chapter was so short, it's my first time doing time doing this sort of thing, hope you all liked it, sorry if I have any mistakes. I will be continuing this fanfic. Oh and if you didn't realise, this is a Sword Art Online FF. See ya all in the next chapter!

-Laiver, out!


	2. Chapter 2 - Sword Art Online

'Welcome to Sword Art Online' Those words seemed to jump out at me as I floated into the neon white abyss below, I wanted to scream or yelp, anything but I did not yet have a sort of a body generated to execute these actions. I slowly moved into a med-evil castle-like area, with marble pillars and a stone-paved floor, it had no roof and was a circle-like shape.

All around me, other people seemed to generate in a blue blur of pixels and strange shapes. I asked a red-haired person who seemed to know what he was doing; he was rather unwilling to tell me. He was kinda angry and kept telling me to move out of his way, I had to plead with him to tell me how. He eventually told me that I have to place my index finger and thumb together and swipe down. Then he said he had to figure the rest out myself, because he had to go somewhere urgently. I swiped down to see a few grey circles with different icons upon them; I pressed the cog which seemed like the option button to me. As I did so it glowed yellow for a second and then a menu with the words "Enter your name _" Appeared in front of me. After some serious thought I entered the letters "T-O-R-U-I-G-A-Y-A" then pressed the green circle. "Toruigaya" I said proud of my work. I was then prompted to make an avatar, 'no problem' I thought to myself.

I gave him medium-length white hair and small nose He also had green eyes and was a little over average height. I changed the clothes color to grey, guess I can't customize clothes without finding some first. I kept looking in random mirrors placed around the "map" and gazing at how good "I" looked. It felt great being here; I didn't even feel like my old self anymore. After a small walk, just looking around this whole new world, I realised that I had to get to work grinding experience or I would get left behind and be weak compared to everyone else. I took a stroll over to some plains, they were filled with level 1 boars roaming around; So I figured this was a good place to start. One of the nearer boars began to charge towards me, I got a little startled so I ran. The boar was much faster and it was no time before I was all hands on deck. The green bar in the top-left depleted by about an eighth. Realisation struck once again as I noticed something: I have no idea how combat works in this game...

Defiantly time to re-strategise. I raised my sword as high as I could and charged the boar that knocked me down. I struck the boar with all my might as we collided. The curved bar that seemed to follow it moved down a tiny bit. "What?" I yelled "I hit that thing as hard as I could!" As the boar began rushing towards me once more I figured it was time for a... tactical retreat...

I began wandering the plains once more looking for someone else doing combat, it took a while, but I finally spotted someone doing exactly what I needed. There were two of them, one with long dark hair, wearing blue and the other with red and wearing red too. The one in red's sword glowed as he dashed towards the boar; He sliced through it and began screaming after he defeated the monster. Taken aback, I figured I didn't want to talk to those two, they seemed, weird. I kept walking until I came back at the place I started. The Town of beginnings...

It was already getting dark and I was rather bored of walking around aimlessly and made a move towards a nearby inn. I had some starting cash so I figured a room for the night wouldn't hurt. I approached the NPC or, I assume he was an NPC but he seemed so life-like. Anyway I walked up to him and asked for a room "Sure, anything in particular?" he asked, his eyes looking straight through me, defiantly an NPC. "Just a room for one, for the night." I said solemnly "Okee-dokee, that'll be 50 cor" He said with a smile. I simply handed the money to the creepy guy and took the key, while avoiding eye-contact. I walked up to my room and looked around. Defiantly not the best quality but, I didn't really care. I flopped down on the bed and tried to fall asleep, to no avail. After about 10 minutes I realised, I couldn't fall asleep, falling asleep in Aincrad was supposed to log you out, as a way to get you to return to the real world. Ha, I knew that, but I can't land a decent hit on a level one boar.

But, why wasn't it working? I opened my menu and went straight to options, where the logout button was positioned... Or maybe not, looking back at me, the button was blank, but still had an icon. Where was it again..? I thought that was where it was supposed to be. Why would it be missing, how can I get out? No, I shouldn't be so negative. I sat up in my rented bed and started cycling through every option, each time getting more and more worried that I didn't have a way out...

Just as I was thinking that, I was engulfed in blue and, next thing I knew I was right back where I started... Although this time, I was still lying down... *CRASH* I hit the ground... "Ow" I said after having my posterior slammed against the hard stone floor "What's going on?" I stammered, noticing all the players that had also been teleported here. Mumbling words similar to what I just said, the crowd began to panic, confused just like me. Some of them were mumbling something about an opening event. I suppose that makes sense, I mean, there hasn't been anything like that yet, right? So maybe the GM is gunna welcome us or something..?

Then something happened that changed the world forever. The sky began to turn red...

-**Author's Note**-

Well, I think I made up for the last chapter being so short with this 1,000k 2nd chapter, the two mention with red and black hair, are supposed to be Kirito and Klein. Figured I'd reference the anime a little. I redid this chapter about 3 times, I think I'm putting way too much effort into it, since no one is actually gunna read it, but whatever, keeps me entertained. Well, hope you all enjoyed, see ya in the next one!

-Laiver, out!


	3. Chapter 3 - Caged

**Hey again readers, yeah, me again. First off I would like to thanks Goran for giving me my first review, I work hard on this story with my friend Tomito42, you should check out his perspective, It truly means a lot to me and I took this time to thank him, hope you enjoy and keep reading, Goran. Anyways here is chapter 3, introducing a new character!**

**SPEECH IN _ITALIC_ IS TAKEN FROM THE OFFICAL BOOK AS IT IS A QUOTE FROM WHAT KAYABA SAYS TO THE PLAYERS OF SAO  
><strong>

_'The sky began to turn red...'_

I stared at the many hexagons that were filling up the sky, 'Warning' and 'System announcement' they read. I stood, frozen until they filled up the entire sky. I looked around for someone to ask, someone who looked like they knew what was going on. No one did, everyone was just like me, confused and scared. I tried to stay calm, and composed, when a girl approached me, she had long blue hair and grey eyes, her clothes were set as a dark blue. "Excuse me," she said just like everyone else, clueless "You seem like you know what's going on. What's happening?" I was about to respond when something red began pouring out of the sky, it looked like, blood...

"What the..?" the girl stammered from behind me. "Look" I said as I pointed at the blood now forming together to make some human-like shape. "It's forming into something" I heard over all the cries and panicking her response "Yeah, it is!" she squinted at the blob in the sky. It became the shape of a robe, it was still red with golden lining but no one was inside it. The real scare was when it began speaking...

Then the right sleeve of the huge robe moved as if to silence everyone. A white glove appeared at the edge of each sleeve.

"_Players, I welcome you all to my world."_

It or he spoke with a low male voice. 'What does he mean by 'my world' I thought to myself, 'is he the creator of SAO?'

"_My name is Akihiko Kayaba. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world."_

He spoke as if he was god. I knew his name; I'd defiantly heard it before... But from where?

"_I think that most of you have discovered the fact that the Log Out button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug; it is all part of Sword Art Online's system."_

"What...?" I heard the girl from behind me say, not sure of what to think. I put my hands in my pockets. 'So what other way is there to logout?' I thought 'Are we stuck here? Is that what he's saying? Or is there another way out?'

"_Until you get to the top of this castle, you cannot log out of your own free will."_

The crowd erupted at this comment, we couldn't leave, we were trapped, caged here in this world unable to leave until we get to the top of some castle, 'Aincrad is a castle' I thought, eyes widening 'We can't leave until we get to the top of Aincrad? That's a whole 100 floors isn't it?'

"_Also, the disruption or dismantling of the Nerve Gear from the outside is strictly forbidden. The signal sensors in your Nerve Gear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all of your basic functions."_

"T-then, there truly is no way out..." The girl from behind me said quietly, 'She's, right. We can't leave until we beat the game.'

"_To be a little more specific, disconnection from an outside source of electricity for ten minutes, being cut off from the system for more than two hours, or any attempt to: unlock, dismantle, or destroy the Nerve Gear. If any of these conditions are met, the brain destruction sequence will start. These conditions have been made known to the government and the public through mass-media in the outside world. On that note, there have been several cases where the relatives or friends have ignored the warnings and tried to forcefully remove the Nerve Gear. The result, 213 players have already exited this game, and the real world, forever."_

"N-no way..." I whispered as I fell to my knees "No, we can't... He doesn't..." Many players just did the same and fell onto their knees, unable to believe those lies. They had to be lies... "213 people, dead already..."

"_Players, there is no need to worry about the bodies you left on the other side. As of this moment, all TV, radio, and Internet media are repeatedly reporting this situation; including the fact that there have been numerous deaths. The danger of having your Nerve Gear taken off has already all but disappeared. In a moment, using the two hours I have provided, all of you will be transported to hospitals or similar institutes and be given the best treatment. So you can relax... and concentrate on beating the game."_

"BEAT THE GAME?! YOU WANT US TO SIT AROUND AND BEAT YOUR GAME?! AFTER ALL WE'VE JUST HEARD AND DISPARED OVER, YOU WANT US TO PLAY A GAME!?" Someone screamed over all the tears we were drowning in, we could never see our families again; We were trapped in here until we beat the game, well, at least we wouldn't die until then...

"_But I ask of you all to understand that Sword Art Online is no longer a simple game. It is a second reality... From now on, any form of revival in the game will no longer work. The moment your HP reaches 0, your avatar will be gone forever. And at the same time your brain will be destroyed by the Nerve Gear."_

'Well that's it then, I am going to die here, never going to see my family again. If only I'd read that manual... I would have had some idea of even the basics. I stood up, determined. I was going to survive, to get out of here, and never give up until we were all free. I stared at the health bar in my vision, 132/132 lvl.1 I had no experience with this game, so how could I live up to what I had just promised myself?

"_Players, there is only one way to be freed from this game. As I have said before, you must get to the top of Aincrad, the one hundredth floor, and defeat the final boss that resides there. All players still alive at that time will be immediately logged out of the game. I give you all my word."_

There were more screams and shouts of protest against Kayaba, I just slowly stood up and tried to look okay with all horrible events that were going on.

"_I will show you evidence that this is the only reality. In your inventories, there will be a gift from me. Please confirm this."_

I remembered what the red haired person had told me earlier 'place my index finger and thumb together and swipe down' I did as the memory said, and again I was greeted with the grey circles I clicked the inventory circle to see only one item not in use. It read "Hand Mirror" I clicked on it and the mirror appeared in the air, as excepted. Motioning my hand forward, I held the mirror in front of me, my avatar's face staring back at me. Just as I was thinking what he was talking about, I was again engulfed in a light blue pillar. When my eyes could once again see, I was no longer in the place where I was before. Or at least, the people were different...

I looked down into the mirror that I was still holding and a small yelp of surprise escaped my lips as I realised the face staring back at me, was my own. Somehow, Kayaba had changed my avatar to what I looked like in real life... The scanner that was mentioned in the Nerve Gear section on the news! I insisted that we watched that, I had to beg my mother... There was a scanner placed in the inside of the Nerve Gear that could see what my face looked like. That also explains why everyone looks different; This is their real life appearances. I checked behind me to see a girl on her knees, crying. It was defiantly the same girl from before, just what she looked like in real life; she now had slightly shorter black hair, almost shining purple with deep brown eyes, she looked about my age, 14.

"_You will all most probably be wondering, "Why." Why am I—the creator of both the Nerve Gear and Sword Art Online, Akihiko Kayaba—doing something like this? Is this a sort of terrorist attack? Is he doing this to ransom us? None of these is the reason I am doing this. Not only that, but now for me, there is no longer a reason or a purpose in doing this. The reason is because... this situation itself was my purpose in doing this. To create and watch this world is the only reason I have created the Nerve Gear and SAO. And now, everything has been realized. Now I have finished the official tutorial for Sword Art Online... Players—I wish you luck..."_

He ended that last sentence with a small echo and then began to burn away, smoke pouring from the now static body of the GM Akihiko Kayaba. I turned to the crying girl kneeling near me and crouched down next to her. "Hey" I said trying to calm her down, I can't just watch someone be upset "Are you okay? We're gunna get out of here, you know. We will get home." She looked at me with tear stained eyes. "How can you be so sure? We have a small chance of making it out of here alive." she said "Look, we can get out of here, it's possible, right? Well we'll have a better chance if we group up. I don't know anyone here, and it doesn't look like you do either so, you want to come with me?" I knew what I said was probably out of line, but I honestly wanted to help, she was the only person I'd even spoken to here. "What are you trying to do?" She wasn't crying as much anymore, I knew I had stepped over the line. "Look, sorry, I just met you" I stood up and began to turn away "I'll be going now, good luck" I walked away into the crowd before she could slap me; she probably thought I was hitting on her or something.

"Wait."I heard from behind me as someone grabbed my arm. I turned around to see a pair of brown eyes looking into mine and a small smile under them "Okay" she said "Let's go, you seem honest, and you're obviously trying to help me. So I'll come with you." That made me smile, even through all of what just happened. I was about to start talking when she beat me to it "But, first, introductions. What's your name?" I was surprised at first, but it only made sense. "Sure, that makes sense; my name is tora-...Toruigaya" I paused as I nearly said my real name "Yours?" She seemed to be looking at my eyes a little too much "Umm... Something wrong?" I asked, puzzled "You have weird eyes, Toru." she said with a wide smile. I realised why she'd been staring at my eyes. My right eye is a sea-green while my left is an icey-grey. "Funny you'd say that, I get bullied over that, back at school." My eyes didn't meet hers. "I'm sorry," she quickly apologised only to be interrupted by me "Hey, don't worry about it, that can't happen for a while, right? Anyways, your name? You still didn't tell me that. Oh and 'Toru' is that my new nickname? I like it." I said with a faint smile spreading across my face. "My name is Min, Miya and to be honest I hadn't noticed, I'm a little quick to the trigger with nicknames." She said also seeming to almost say her real name "Wrong name?" I said with a teasing smile. "Hey, we better get going now," she said "did you have any where planned?" I turned, looking for the nearest exit "Yeah, the next town."

**Thank you all for reading, I don't have anymore to say down here, read on and enjoy  
><strong>

-Laiver, out


	4. Chapter 4 - Emotions

**Hello viewers and readers, Laiver here with chapter four of Until the End! I would like to thanks another reviewer, Willthegray, truly it means alot to me that there are people like you enjoying my story, I hope you check back in and maybe leave another review, Anyway, I've been thinking about adding links to my story to pictures that of the characters that I have drawn, for a better look at what they look like. Would you guys like that? Willthegray? Goran? Anyone else that may be here? I usually write these consecutively, I have nothing better to do, and I enjoy this, anyway enjoy!**

How do I get myself into these situations? Surrounded by boars and apes of a higher level, with 0 fighting experience, even with someone who's got my back I'm still going to die here. Well I guess I better take you back to where you left the train; We were heading off, for the second town.

"Why exactly? Sorry if I'm a little suspicious here. I mean, I just met you." Miya said to me as we headed out, I spun back around to look at her, "Well, everyone who isn't going insane right now is going to be trying to level up, right?" I said, doing a bunch of bizarre gestures with my hands "So, we should head out for the next weakest town, the second one, to get a bigger chance of levelling up, because, well I'm only level 1..." I scratched the back of my head. "Don't worry about it, I'm only level 3, I can't really fight at all, I don't know how to use all my skills, just a few" she chuckled. I told her we'd have to find someone, maybe a beta tester or something, who knew what they were doing. As we finished talking, everyone seemed to come out of their trance and run for the exits, luckily we were right next to one. We walked through the arch and headed out, just as we were walking out of the big place, I stopped her. "Hold up," I said stretching out my arm in front of her "Don't we need a map, 'cause frankly, I have no idea where to go." Once again, scratching my head. "Don't worry, I have one, that was the first thing I did here, buy a map." She mocked with a grin. We kept on walking for a while, checking the map when needed, until we were in familiar plains...

My good friends the boars were back, and they had some friends for me to meet, apes. They were all roughly level 5, that was gunna be tough. "Stay on guard, if you health starts to drop, bail on me." I told her, unsheathing my sword "W-we're gunna be okay, right, Toru?" she was panicking again. "Calm down, you're not alone this time." I said readying my weapon "Back to back" I said. She did as I said and we were now back to back. It was only then I realised that I hadn't even tried that move I saw someone use before. I mumbled encouraging words to myself and charge at an ape. My sword glowed orange as I thrust it out in front of me. Speeding past the side of a big monkey, I sliced open the side of it and it's bar turned red, nearly disappearing, I looked over to Miya who, by the looks of things, had just done the same thing. She then pushed out her fist, as if to punch it but her hand became engulfed in yellow, like fire, she punched the boar right in the jaw and finished it off, gaining about a third of necessary experience needed for level 4. I really needed to catch up with her level. I repeated the same action Miya did and, sure enough, my hand glowed yellow. I punched the ape hard in the chest; It was pushed quite fat back before shattering into light particles, a small menu appeared, like it did for Miya, and told me how much experience I had earned, almost enough for level 2. "Hey, Miya" I shouted to her "Know any other skills I can use?" I hadn't looked at her and was fighting off a boar with the same technique I used with the ape earlier. "Miya?" I said, getting a little worried now, she hadn't responded to anything I had said recently, I finished off the attacking ape as quick as I could and became level 2 and about a third, but that was of no concern now...

I spun around to see her fighting she didn't seem panicked just normal combat, but her health was low. Maybe she hadn't noticed, I better be quick to get over there. Forcing my legs to move faster I ran into a boar and fell backwards, I jumped to my feet and looked over the boar, she had clearly noticed how low her health was, and it was in the red section now. I used the punch skill she had shown me and punched the boar repeatedly until it was on it's back, I then jumped up and used the charge-like skill in a drill fashion. The boar died and I became a level 3, just like Miya was. I looked over at her and saw the health barley left in her bar. "MIYA!" I screamed in panic, then I realised she was trying to run from the boar, she was crying with fear, "DON'T RUN," I yelled once more "FIGHT IT OFF!" I ran as fast as my speed parameters would allow, I wasn't going to make it...

The sword seemed to force itself out in front of me, ready to do the charge skill. The boar was also charging at Miya, one more hit and she would die for sure. I dropped the sword and forced myself to move faster. I was about 5 metres from them now, "Faster" I mumbled to myself "save her!" I said louder. Checking my health bar, I knew I could take the damage of the fight. I reached her as the boar was about to finish her for sure, I pushed my legs down and sprung up. I landed right in between Miya and the boar and took all the damage, my health bar moved just into the red section. I moved to Miya unsheathed her sword from her side, told her to stay where she was and not to attract attention...

I charged the boar and got him in one hit, three apes appeared behind it, I readied my fists and punched the all in the stomach then the chest then charged past them all, knocking them to the floor, finished. I then became level 6 nearly 7. I walked back to Miya and knelt down next to her.

Her eyes were wide and her face was filled with tears, I then noticed my own face was drenched in tears too. She was okay, so was I. "Don't worry," I said as softly as I could "Your okay, we're going to be fine." She closed her eyes and looked down as more tears poured out of them. "I-I thought I was going t-to die there, but you, you saved me." She was barely able to form words "Hey, how about we just relax for the day, huh?" I said pointing to the near second town "Just over there, calm down and then we can each get a room over there and some healing potions" I held out my hand for her to get up. Her face relaxed and she wiped the tears out of her eyes, extended her hand into mine and stood up. I released her hand as soon as she was on her feet, I didn't want her upset anymore than she was.

The time it took to walk over was enough for it to be midnight here, we walked around, looking for the nearest shop, we found one and bought enough potions to heal us, with 1 extra each, she hadn't spoken since we arrived here, I don't blame her. After all we went through back there, especially her; She nearly died, for real. We walked to the nearest inn and asked for two rooms, just for the night. "Sure, that'll be 50 cor each" the NPC said with a smile I pulled up the cor menu to find that I only had 10 cor remaining from buying all the potions. "Umm... Hey, Miya, how much cor do you have?" she pulled up the menu, she really didn't want to speak. It read '67' I glanced at it and asked her for it, she just gave me 67 cor without a word. "Sorry, but how much is one room for two?" her eyes widened when I said that. He told us that it was 75 cor, but there was a deal on where we could get two nights for the price of one, in other words, we could stay for two nights here. I handed him what he wanted. "With 2 beds or a double?" he said raising an eyebrow at Miya "Err.. 2 beds, separate" I said quickly. Once again, I was handed inn keys and walked up the stairs. Once I got to our room I turned to face Miya "Sorry, we don't have enough cor, I know we just met and all and it's kinda awkward..." I looked at her for a minute "I could sleep outside, I don't mind, I've had to do that in real life a few time so..." she still wouldn't speak. I began to move for the door when she finally spoke up "No, it's okay, you don't have to sleep outside..."

I smiled at the fact she was speaking, and just opened the door; The beds were at separate ends of the room, good. "Mind if I get changed first?" I asked, gesturing toward the bathroom, she shook her head and walked over to one of the beds. I got in the bathroom and opened the menu, I changed into some starter sleepwear that was in my inventory, It was noting special just plain old grey pyjamas just like my other clothes. I walked out, "All yours." I said crawling onto the other bed. I was in a room, alone with a girl I'd just met. How do I get into such awkward situations..? I laid down and tried to fall asleep, it took a while but eventually I did, I woke up at 3:30 am and looked over at the bed to my left. Miya was sat up with more tear stains shining under her eyes, over faint blushes...  
>I wanted to ask what was wrong, why she was so sad and embarrassed but I knew that, she was trapped in a game alone with a guy she'd met not 24 hours ago. "Hey." I whispered, she jumped slightly and looked over at me with wide eyes as her blush darkened. "You know, you can sleep, I'm not going to mess with you or anything." Really? I just said that. Great, now she's gunna think I'm some kinda pervert, good job on making the situation better, Toru. "I-it's not that, I just... I know it's not right for me to ask but, earlier when you said you'd sleep outside and before that when you almost gave your life to save me, why? Why are you so caring for me?" she said looking away. "I... I don't really know how to answer that... Well, I guess it's my real life really, not my life ahead, here. You see, I'm not in the wealthiest family, we barley have enough money to keep our little house... So, I guess I'm sort of over protective of people I care for..." I laid back down and stared at the ceiling. "I won't let you die." I said slowly and quietly "W-what..?" she blushed more.<p>

"It's nothing" I said to the ceiling, still not facing her. "You probably think I'm some sort of weirdo, don't you, the creepy kind of person tries to get close to people, and then turns on them, because they need money. Why else would I be helping you, right?" I said, memories of my real life, opening the flood gates of my eyes. "Everyone I know thinks like that, besides my family everyone thinks I'm trying to do something bad, when I'm just... Trying to... I don't know... "No." She said with no emotion, pulling her covers over her "I think you're a good person. You almost died saving me and all you have done since we met is calm me down and help me. If you hadn't been there for me, I'd be going insane. I know we just met, but I feel as if we've been friends for months..." I stopped crying and pulled the covers over myself. I looked over at her with heavy eyes and mouthed the words 'Thank you' and then I slipped out of consciousness...

**Awwhh... that was nice, few breadcrumbs on Toru's real life there and an awkward moment indeed. I will start on the next chapter tomorrow, and sorry if there is any mistakes, It's late, anyway I'll see you all in the next chapter**

**-Laiver, Out!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Bleeding Boar

**Sorry this one took so long, I wrote it right after the other, I just forgot to upload it until now, anyways, here is chapter 5, introducing the last of our main cast, well all I have planned for now anyways, enjoy!**

My eyes fluttered open as I checked the clock in my vision, '8:13am' I rolled over to see if Miya was still asleep. The other bed was empty; I crawled out of my pit and walked over to the bathroom. Knocking on the entrance to see if Miya was in there, I noticed a note taped to the door. It read:

_Toru,  
>I went out kill some monsters and get some more cash, don't worry I won't be taking any risks, I'm over in the plains where we were yesterday, come over and join me if you want.<br>-Miya_

"Okay" I said aloud as I walked into the bathroom to get changed, I opened the menu and changed back into my starter attire. I needed better clothes, this stuff was getting old, everyone was still wearing it. After changing I opened the door, walked out of our inn room and locked up, walked down the stairs and said hello to the NPC innkeeper. I continued walking in the direction we came here until I found the plains; It really wasn't as far as I remember. Maybe that's because of how worried we were when we came over here. Anyway, where was Miya? I looked around from the top of the small hill she was sat on earlier, with my hand shielding the sun from my eyes. I noticed someone with dark purple hair fighting a boar, but it wasn't Miya, she had grey clothing like me, Miya's were dark blue. I was just starting to get worried when someone poked me in the back, I turned around to see Miya smiling at me "Hey, sleepyhead." She seemed like herself again; Guess she'd got over the incident yesterday "Hey, I didn't sleep in for that long." A boar was rushing me so I used the punch skill to get it onto the floor and then slashed downwards and did a three-hit combo on its stomach. "Wow, new skill." I said after realising what I just did. "Yeah, I've got a few of those too, guess what level I am now?" she held up both hands with all fingers extended "Ten, huh? And how much cor did you get? I want breakfast." I asked, raising an eye brow. She slid open her menu to reveal her '567' cor "Okay, now that's gunna help, right?" I said remembering something, "Oh, yeah by the way, did you get some sleep last night? I mean It looks like it but, I fell asleep first." I questioned as she used a new skill, she slash left then right then straight into the middle of an ape's chest. "Yeah... just a little after you, I fell asleep." She responded, not looking at me. I noticed she was blushing faintly so I changed the subject "Good, we wouldn't want you tired when that ape hits you over the head." I said, pointing to an approaching ape behind her. She quickly spun around and used the side slashing skill again. It disappeared into particles and she became level 11, I was only level 7 after killing that boar.

"Shouldn't we find somewhere better to grind? We're a little over level for this place." I asked her slashing up another few apes. "Yeah, I only came here so you'd know where I was." She stood still, letting me get the levels and cor now. After I became level 10 I asked her for the map she had, She handed it over. "Oh, by the way, shouldn't we like, form a party?" She raised her eyebrows and shrugged "Sure, I guess, that would make sense then we could see each other's health easier..." She stared at the sky "...like yesterday..." I stretched out my arm to stop her walking then looked at her and she looked at me "Hey, I made it in time, didn't I? And we're higher levels now, so we have less to worry about, right?" She smiled slightly and pushed my arm out of her way "Yeah... Let's hurry up anyways! I want to get to a higher level sometime soon, if you don't mind."

She started running ahead, faster than either of us could before "Hey wait up, speedster, what about the party?" I shouted as she ran away. "Oh yeah, I forgot." She skidded to a stop. I walked over to catch up to her and then opened my menu, and found the friend section and I clicked the blue circle when it popped up 'Send Miya a friend request?' She accepted it, then I moved onto creating a party. Once again 'Invite Miya to your party?' blue circle. She clicked the same thing when she was shown a window that read 'Toruigaya invites you to his party. Accept?' "Yeah, yeah accept." She said after reading it. "Are you done..?" I just looked at her and waited "Woah, a second health bar? Oh, yours. Cool." I had her health bar under mine now; She was at the top of the yellow section '826/1452 - level 11' "Great, now you can run ahead like a little kid" I smirked, half closing my eyelids. She gave me an unimpressed expression and started walking normally.

I followed suit, slowly, thinking about all that had happened yesterday, then a thought crossed my mind, my family. I hadn't even thought about what must be happening in the real world right now. I was in a hospital, probably with them all crying around me. Hopefully they didn't have to pay to keep me alive, or I was dead for sure, there's no way they could afford to- "Hey, what's wrong?" Miya was now running back. I hadn't even noticed I had stopped walking; I was frowning and looking at the floor. "Are you okay? Something wrong?" She asked, concerned. I tried to respond but I was frozen on the spot. "N-nothing, l-let's go." I forced out and broke free of the trance I was in. I started walking as she frowned at me. "Okay... If you're sure..." She responded, throwing her arms out to the sides and following me. "Any idea where we're going now? We need a better place to grind here, but we still have another night in that inn, so we should to stay relatively near this town." She summed up from behind me. "Toru? Okay seriously, what's wrong? You're not acting right." She got in front of me and started walking backwards so she could see me. "Huh? Oh, sorry. Umm... I guess we just walk around for a bit, until we find some higher levels." I mumbled with closed eyes, "Why won't you tell me what's up? The least I could do for the times you've cheered me up would be to return the favour." She said stopping in front of me. I stopped walking...

"Gunna tell me now?" She said noticing I'd stopped "MOVE!" I said as I dived to the side, pushing her with me. I was now lying on top of her, making her face turn red with embarrassment "T-toru?" She said scared of what I had just done "What are you-" She noticed where we were just stood, a giant red boar was skidding, It had just changed direction, if I hadn't done what I had, we would have been sent flying. 'Lvl 20' Great more experience for me then. I flipped off her while unsheathing my blade and put my sword to one of it's horns pushing off it's attack. It came back 10 times harder and knocked me a ways on the ground. Closing my eyes I readied myself for the pain of being trampled. I heard a clatter and opened my eyes to see Miya pushing off the horn of the boar with her sword, as I had. "You're... Turn... Move!" She yelled between grunts, I did as she told me and rolled out of the way. I picked up my sword that I had released prior to rolling and got the other horn in a sword – horn struggle. "Back... off... you... BASTARD!" I pushed the boar over to it's back, doing so I fell over backwards and dropped my sword, Miya tripped over my sword and we both ended up on the cold ground. The over-sized pig beat us to our feet during the time it took us to collect ourselves. The boar got to me this time and stomped right on my stomach, red particles, the equivalent of blood in this world, spewed from my mouth gargled with a shout from the pain, "TORU!" Miya screamed as she tried to force the boar's leg from my middle. The boar hit Miya with it's tusks and pushed her back a ways. "Do- AGH! Don't leave... me..." I forced out, pathetically. My health was draining slowly and was now dangerously low at 346/1596 in the red. I screamed and shouted in pain as my health began to drop even more...

She moved in again to try and stop the boar "Don't worry," She ran at the boar "I won't!" The boar charged at her, releasing me for a few seconds, she was knocked down to the floor as the boar walked back to me and stamped on me a few more times. The red particles returned, spewing from my mouth. Miya rushed back to me. My health was now 123/1596 and as it faded into double digits I asked Miya something important "Please, If y-you get out of this... AGH... world, find my mother Hikusu Mizushima and tell her I...UGH...love her, tell her-" She interrupted "No. You're NOT dying here, take this" She forced her only healing potion into my mouth, it was a weak potion and only healed 500hp "That was a waste-" I noticed someone running towards us...

He had long red hair and seemed pretty ticked off. In his right hand he held a strong looking broad sword and he wore black and aqua starter clothes. He dived at the boar and did about a 5 hit combo, spinning his sword around the boar's tusks; They fell off after a while. He slid his leg under the boars and knocked it onto it's side, he then used the swipe skill on it's chest a few more times until the boar died and he levelled up to 15. He turned to us and looked at me... Right as I passed out from the pain...

When I awoke, I was back in my bed, in the inn. I laid for a while, gathering my strength and recalling what had happened, why was I back here? I forced myself to move over to see if anyone was there. When I did I saw someone at the other side of my bed. She was sat on a stool with her hands on her lap, Miya. Her eyes were closed and a concerned frown was under her small nose. I moved a little more so she'd notice I was conscious. Those brown eyes, I had become so fond of fluttered open to see me awake. "You okay?" She asked quietly staring into my eyes as she had when we'd first met. I nodded as far as my neck would allow, "You've been out for 6 hours, It's half past 5" She informed me, not looking away. It was true; I checked my clock that was overlaid in my sight. "How... Long have you... been sat there?" I croaked between swallowing as I closed my eyes. "Since I got you here, since 11:30, I've been worried something had happened, like in the real wo-" She paused as she said 'real world' "I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk about..." She looked down, ending our gaze. "Hey, it's no problem. I don't..." I started coughing alot. She helped me up to a sitting position, so I could cough. After the first few times, I realised I was coughing up those red things again, in other words, blood...

After I'd finished coughing, I asked her something "What happened after I... *Cough* passed out? That person in the black and blue." I laid back down and closed my eyes, listening to every word she said "Well... He called us noobs and told us were lucky to have come across a rare spawn such as a boss. Then a girl ran over shouting his name, which by the way was 'Sakura', She looked kind of like my old avatar, if you remember that, She was in a lilac starter uniform. She seemed like she was good friends with Sakura and her name was Sari. After he called us some more, I asked him if he could teach us how to do something like that, you did see what he did, right?" I opened my eyes and remembered what he had done to that boss. "Yeah." I grunted with a pain in my throat. "Well, I asked him, he seemed reluctant at first, but he seemed to change his mind when Sari join in and asked for the same thing, he said to meet him back there at about 7 O'clock tomorrow. After that, I picked you up and brought you here and well, I've been sat here ever since." I smiled and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. "Why did you watch me sleep?" I questioned, resisting the urge to smirk. "W-well I-I...I... I was worried about you and-" I stood up with wobbly knees and held my stomach "You didn't have to tell me, but, thanks... Means alot. Anyways I'm starving, aren't you? We haven't eaten anything at all today." She opened her eyes a bit further and looked at me. "Yeah, I am, now that I think about it. We have alot of money from the grinding we did, right? Let's go find somewhere to get food."

**He hungry. Hope you all enjoyed, just finishing up the next chapter now, catch ya then!  
>-Laiver, out!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6 - In The Past

**Hey guys and girls! Back again with chapter six, first off *cough* Shout out to awesome reviewer who may or may not be my cousin xx Ada-Chan xx *cough* ah, sorry something in my throat, first off: sorry for not uploading this one straight away, I'm lazy, Deal. With. It. But seriously love you guys! Enjoy!**

We walked through our room door, after finishing our meal and coming here. Before we came back, we'd had a walk, and got lost... It was late now, at midnight. She went into the bathroom first to, and I laid on my bed. This was nostalgic. I lay over my covers, arms folded behind my head, thinking about what Sakura had said. How Miya had asked for training, maybe he was a beta tester or something, I had said we should find a beta tester, maybe that was her aim. Either way, it was good that we had someone else to help us out now, even if just for tomorrow. Miya walked out of the bathroom yawning, in her simple starter sleepwear, she moved over to her bed and flopped on it. "Tired?" I chuckled with a grin, she got to her feet, jumped over and flipped onto her bed, and laid in the same position I was in, "Mh, hm..."She hummed in confirmation "Long walk, I can't believe we got lost." I moved over to look at her and smiled "Hey, it was your idea" she sat up and looked at me, "Yeah, but you came along and didn't object" she shot back, unimpressed, she then changed her expression to a more caring one and looked away "Thanks, by the way, you're a good friend..." she trailed off. "Hey, no problem and I try my best." I started to drift off "Night, sleep well, big day tomorrow..." I mumbled before shutting my eyes, "You too..." was the last thing I heard before I drifted off to dream world.

Something woke me up in the middle of the night, someone was talking. My eyes shot open and I listened "No...Mom...Please...Someone help..." Miya was mumbling in her sleep, she was having a nightmare "No! Please, no! Mommy! Help! Someone help!" her was raising her voice now; Something bad was going on in her head. I dove out of bed and rushed over to her and looked at her face, she was crying in her sleep. I shook her slightly to try and wake her up, I didn't want her to have a nightmare. She shot up and yelped, she looked at me, her eyes as wide as ever, then looked around the room quickly, her breath was chaotic. I grabbed her shoulder with one hand and started rubbing her back with the other. "Calm down... You're okay now..." I said as soothingly as I could. She gazed off into the wall "Mom..." she whispered sadly, I didn't really know what to do; I didn't want to intrude into her personal life, but I wanted to help. "Bad dream?" I asked her quietly, Miya shook her head slightly, "No... A memory..." I was kind of confused, from what I gathered, something bad had happened to her mom, she just had a bad dream about it and was now scared and depressed. I did the only think I could think of, "Want to talk about it?" that's what my mother would always ask me if I had a bad dream, talking about it seemed to help. Her eyes moved towards me, "No, I can't, It's too... Painful." With that she looked away and laid back down, "Just leave me alone..." I was a little surprised, that always helped me, but I did as she asked and went back to my bed.

I sat down and leaned on the wall, there was no way I was going back to sleep, thinking about what today had ahead. We were supposed to be getting trained by Sakura in a few hours, it was about 4 o'clock and we had to be there for 7 so I had a good 2 hours-ish to wait. There was also another girl, what was her name again? Oh yeah, Sachi, no wait, Sari. Defiantly Sari, she was friends with Sakura so she'd probably get focused on the most, but the real question was, how'd he get so good so fast? He must either be a beta tester or at least know one, or maybe he just became that good that fast, It's possible I guess. What he did to that boss was incredible; I guess we owe him our lives, really. I do for sure, if he hadn't showed up when he did, I wouldn't be here right now, I wonder how my family would be without me, watching me die in the real world... I was just trying to remember what Sakura looked like when I heard my name "Toru?" I opened my eyes and looked over to the opposite bed. Miya was still facing the wall, but I swear I'd heard her speak. "Are you still awake?" she turned slightly this time and looked over her shoulder at me, "Yeah, I am. What's up?" she rolled all the way over, then slowly sat up "Can I still talk about it." Her voice began to shake, "Okay, sure, I'm all ears." I blinked a few times before she spoke again "Well, when I was really young, my mother was shot in the side. She had tried to stop a man from getting away from a policeman; They shot her and ran away. We were going on a walk, just me and her and, after the policeman ran after them, no one else was there..." she began to cry now, I was stunned and couldn't move. Miya continued on "I... Watched my mother bleed to death when I was 7..." She collapsed onto the floor and curled up in a ball "Now, it feels like I'm losing my family again... Trapped in here, and I'll never see them again." It all made sense, why she was so terrified about being here, and why she came with me that first day, she needed someone to rely on, she thought she was going to lose the rest of her family... I finally managed to break free of my trance, I walked towards the floor and lifted up her chin to face me, "You're going to get out of here, I promise I won't let you die..." She closed her eyes and smiled slightly, I laid there for a while, looking at her sleeping face. I soon slipped away from consciousness as I silently swore that I would do anything to get her back to her family...

The alarm went off and I squeezed open my eyes to see a dozy Miya, a little to close... Her face turned bright red and she jumped a few feet in the air, like a cat. "Sorry!" I said quickly, both hands spread out in front of me "I must have fell asleep!" She dashed into the bathroom to get ready, and to get away from the creepy guy who 'fell asleep' next to her. I walked over to the nearest wall and started hitting my head off of it. "You... Are... An... Idiot..." I grunted between bashes. Then a very strange thought popped into my head, my sister's face. Her straight long turquoise hair and her kind, yet mysterious grey eyes. She was always kind and smiling, she's like a second mother to me. Why did I suddenly think of..? I realised that I was crying, I quickly wiped away my tears, so that Miya wouldn't get even more creeped out, but they were emitting to fast. "I guess I miss her a little too much" My voice trembled; I heard the bathroom door open, dashed for the exit to our room and just made it out in time, I think. I stood outside for a second, what was I doing? I checked the clocking in my vision '6:24' I had to be there for 7, so what now? I stumbled down the stairs of the inn and ran out of the door. I didn't stop until I reached the plains, I held out my sword in front of me, screamed and went on a rampage, killing at least 4 apes and 6 boars all while screaming at the top of my lungs, I don't know why. After killing about 3 more, I stopped, when I saw a vaguely familiar face looking at me in disgust, Sakura.

He was laid in the grass next to me, "Trying to get trained early, huh?" I put my sword back in it's scabbard and deadpanned, "What." I was really confused, after all that had happened since I put that stupid Nerve-Gear on my head, I just wanted to punch someone. "Come again?" I asked slightly shaking my head, "You showed up early, you expecting some sort of special treatment in this training thing?" I took a few steps back put my hand on my head "No."  
>"Well then. Why are you here?" He shut his eyes, probably didn't care what I said. "I... don't know, blow off steam?" that seemed to get his attention, "That, I can relate, I'm just taking a break." I raised an eyebrow and walked away, "I'll be back for 7..." I didn't look back, my health wasn't doing very well after that onslaught, so where to now...?<p>

I seemed to find myself back at my inn room, I opened the door and walked inside, Miya was nowhere to be found. I looked all around, the bathroom door was open, no one was in there. But the main door was open, so she must still be here, right? Or maybe she forgot to lock the door or something? I laid down on my bed, arms folded with one knee bent. I closed my eyes, what was I even doing anymore? I began recapping what had happened, I left the room to... Then I ran outside and began screaming because... Then I ran into Sakura who seemed to be having the same problems as me. He was just alot cooler about it but, that didn't really matter right now. Where could Miya have gone? I'll just wait until 7 then if she doesn't show up, that's when I'll start worrying about where she went.

When It became 5 to 7 I stood up and walked out of our inn room, locked up and handed the keys to the NPC innkeeper, since our time there was up. I ran to the area I had met Sakura previously and found him and another girl stood waiting for me. "Where is she?" I asked them both, Sakura folded his arms "You mean that girl? I thought she'd be with you." I looked to the other girl, Sari, "Hey, don't ask, me. I have no idea where she is." Just then Miya seemed to appear in the distance, running towards us. Once she reached us she stopped and directed her eyes to Sakura, "Sorry I'm late." definitely out of breath, "I don't really care, but your boyfriend here seemed to." Sakura looked at me, with bored expression. Miya just stared at me, wide-eyed. I felt blood rush to my face, "No, no, no. It's not like that I-" I was rather rudely interrupted by Sakura "Still don't care. Now, listen up, maggots! Training starts here!" Sari was for sure displeased with that statement "Maggot!? Hey, watch your mouth, red head!" With that said and done, training begun "Okay, let's start off with finding your sword-skills." He opened the menu and clicked the top circle which then sprouted off into 3 more options 'Items', 'Skills' and 'Equipment' "Top icon, and then 'Skills', in there you'll find all the sword skills you have acquired, read the description and do what it says." He laid back down, just how I'd found him earlier "It that it..?" Miya deadpanned, scrunching her face up. "Yeah, that's pretty much all I did." Sakura mumbled.

After a while of practice, I could now use the majority of all my skills, Sari was having a little trouble and kept nagging Sakura to help her out. It was comical. We finished up and Sakura told us that we could camp out here, since it was late and we were all tired. He had four tents, for some reason, we trained a little more before the girls got tired and disappeared into the tents. Sakura started a small fire and we sat around that, "Hey, Sakura, can I ask you something." He half opened one eye and looked at me, "Try me." I thought about what I wanted to ask for a few seconds, "Well, I know it's not really right to ask, but why do you always seem so fed up and bored? It's not just because you're here, in Sword Art, is it?" He opened both eyes wide and then seemed to notice what he'd done and went back to a bored expression "No. It's not you're right to know, crazy eyes." I was used to comments like that in life, no, I'd had much worse but, right now, I was too curious to care, "Someone you miss on the outside?" He flinched when I said that and forced his eyes to stay shut, "Must be someone pretty special, don't worry, with what I've seen you do, you'll get back to them someday." He began shaking slightly and opened his eyes "Mind your own fucking business!" He yelled at me, sitting up, "Sorry, but I'm not one to see others sad. Whoever they are, they're going to see you again, so stop worrying about it." He stared at the stars, "Her name is Mamie, she's my little sister..." I was kinda shocked, but hey, that's what I wanted him to say, right? "Well, you're family will look after her, right? She'll be-" Sakura stood up and glared at me, "My family? My family is dead." He walked into one of the two empty tents, "I'm going to bed." I sat out there for a few minutes, thinking about what he'd said, his family is dead? I thought about my family, how they were right now. Closing my eyes, I swore would make it back to them, someday. Then I fell asleep, ready to take on another day of this world, I'll keep fighting and I will make it out of here...

**0_o Poor Sakura. Well, hope you all enjoyed, see ya in the next one (which is already 60% done cause I didn't upload this one straight away!)**

**-Laiver, out!**


	7. Chapter 7 - Late

**Hey readers! Sorry for not uploading this one straight away, I need to get into the habit of doing that. Reviewer Blackjamal, here is your shoutout! Okay, I have some stuff I need to say. This story MAY not get updated as often as usual now as I am returning to school tomorrow, this story was made in the break. Hopefully it will strive on. Read on and enjoy all!**

"Come on, c'mon..." I mumbled to myself as I ran through a forest. I had heard that there was going to be a raid for the first boss room today at 8. It was nearly 10 past; I was going to miss it at this rate. Since the game began, a month has passed and 2,000 of us have fallen, from this world and the real one.

After all this time that has passed, no one has found the floor 1 boss room, until now. Since we did the training with Sakura, we all split up. I don't really know why, It's just been me by myself for a while now, I do know that Sakura and Sari are still alive, I've actually just checked for their names on the Monument of Life.

I didn't have enough time to check for Miya's name, that's the reason I'm so late. I reached the town that the raid party was supposed to be residing in and found the place we were all supposed to meet up. It was a stone staircase that led down into a circle, it was like an inverted stage, you go down the stairs to get to the stage, but no one was there.

Guess I was too late after all. Jumping onto the top stair, I sat down and put my hands behind my head. I sighed, and closed my eyes. I had a better sword now, it was a grey long sword called «Gleaming Point» it cost me 1,500 cor, the grip is purple and guard curves around at the end.

I'm also level 13. It's getting much harder to level up; I've heard the highest level player right now is level 18. I started mumbling things about being late when I heard some footsteps behind me; They stopped quite near my head, "Well if it isn't Toruigaya. Long time no see!" I looked as far up as I could to see some weird clothes I'd never seen in my life, but I couldn't see this person's face. "Do I know you?" I said in a monotone.

"Well I sure hope so, old friend." The feminine voice spoke once again. They sat down next to me; I rolled my head over to my left, where they sat. Not really a shocked that I saw long dark hair, almost purple, parted through the middle and a pair of familiar deep brown eyes peering back at me, "Oh, hey, it's you." I continued, still in a monotone.

"Of course it's me, who else did you think it was?" Miya smiled at me and looked down from my eyes, "New clothes? Nice. Could use a little more colour though." I looked down at my casual yet effective clothes, a dark leather jacket that flicked out at the top and shined in the sun, I always left it open; a simple grey t-shirt under that; pair of normal grey jeans and a pair of dark boots, with iron plats on the toes, heels and ankles.

"Well I could say the same thing to you." I said pointing to her clothes, were still dark blue, but now instead of the starting gear I was used to, it was a sleeveless V-Neck top with a large collar lined with a light grey that went down to the bottom of her shoulders, she also had an under-shirt of the same colour that filled up the v-neck space. She also now wore a mid-length skirt and tights, her shoes were some kind of running trainers and were black.

"Wouldn't that jacket look better... I don't know, red?" She asked tugging on the corner of it, "Well, if you insist, I might just look into that, anyways, why are you here? Looking to fight the boss?" She looked off into the distance.

"No, actually I'm here because my guild said they were meeting here to go after the boss." I leaned forward and looked at her, sure enough, she had a guild icon, "Wait? You're in a guild?" I said, a little loud. "Yeah... Aren't you..?" She glanced at my cursor and obviously didn't see any sort of guild icon, "W-what's your guild called?" I asked her, it made perfect sense to join a guild, but I never joined one. In fact, the only friend I'd managed to make here was Miya.

"'Inverted Rose' It's mostly girls, but there are two guys in it." She was looking over my shoulder when I heard someone shout, "Miya!" from behind me.

I turned around to see a group of people running over to us, "Hey!" Miya responded as they all gathered around her, they all talked for a while and I wasn't sure whether to stay there or leave. Eventually, one of the girls seemed to notice me, "Who's the shady guy in the jacket?" Miya looked my way and smiled nervously, "That's Toru." The girl gasped and then devilishly smiled, "Oh! That's Toru, as in Toruigaya?" I raised my eyebrows in surprise, the rest of the guild seemed pretty giddy over that.

"And you know that, how?" I asked, interested in the subject, "Oh, Miya never stops talking about you!" I glanced at a blushing Miya shaking her head, then back to the girl at hand, "As much as I'd like to believe you, I highly doubt that." I turned my back and raised my hand as a goodbye, "Well, nice talking to ya. Bye." One of the guys stood in my way, he had dark blonde hair, with a green tint to it. His eyes were kinda squinted and he was really tall.

"Hey, wait a second, show me what you got, let's duel." I shrugged as he sent me a duel request, I walked back a little bit and pressed the blue circle. The duel was to half health, after the timer had came down to 30 seconds, I unsheathed my sword, swiped twice and took my stance. My stance was simple, my right leg was back, bent and my left was straight forward, I held the sword pointing out over my shoulder and had my hand in front of myself. I closed my eyes and waited 25 seconds. Then I rushed.

I charged at the buff guy, holding his sword high and slashed his side, I then back flipped over him as he did a half-turn slash, too slow. I kicked his knee, causing him to kneel, he thrust his blade backwards and hit my left thigh, the pain in this game wasn't as bad as reality, but it still hurt like hell.

I jumped back, grit my teeth and jumped over him. He slid his foot under mine and knocked me to the ground, stood and tried to slash me in the back, but I rolled out of there in time. This was going nowhere, he was too good to get any decent hits in.

He smiled at me like he had some sort of backup plan that was going to get me for sure, then he forfeit the dual. "Wait, what?" I said frozen at what just happened, "I'm satisfied with that; You're a good swordsman, a match for me." He held out his hand, I widened my eyes. This person seemed headstrong at first, but I guess he was kind of nice.

I took his hand and shook it, "Can I ask for your name?" I wanted to remember which member of the guild this guy was, he seemed like the only good guy in it. "Kaita." He walked back over to the rest of the 'Inverted Rose' guild, who were all gaping at me, their mouths wide open, and started talking. "Well, like I said, see you around, Miya, Kaita." I began walking away, again.

"Wait." I heard someone from behind me say, I paused for a second, to hear them out. They didn't say anymore, so I kept walking, I figured it was just that stupid girl again. "Wait, Toru." I turned around and looked at Miya sarcastically, she was calling me back, again. "I... Umm..." I glanced over at the rest of the guild who were all giddy, except Kaita, who was still smiling. What do these guys know that I don't?

"What?" I asked her monotonously, "Whatever you want to say, say it." The girl from earlier intruded, "I think I know what she was going to say, would you like to join our guild? You have great skills to match Kaita over here" My eyebrows floated up as I looked over at the still smiling Kaita. "What would that include?" I questioned her, I wasn't joining any guild where I had to do alot.

"Nothing much, we can put you up front in combat and other than that, just show up when we need it." I thought about that for a while, "So, I can just do what I want until you message me?" she nodded. The girl opened her menu and clicked my name on the guild screen, I was then sent a request which opened in front of me.

I clicked the red cross, after some thought. They all seemed pretty shocked at that, I walked away, once more. "Hey, why not join us? Wouldn't that be a good opportunity? solo players won't make it far!" I didn't turn back, I just kept walking away from them, "I'll be better by myself." I said, seriously as I glanced at Miya who was giving me a concerned look, so was Kaita, they didn't want me to go solo.

Once I'd got out of the town, I headed for the nearest forest. That was my usual grinding area, I didn't kill any monsters. I just walked around and avoided ones I came into contact with. Why was I doing this again? This feeling of confusion and frustration, it happened so often since I came here. I just want to go home, and be in the arms of my family again, I want this game to end.

I wonder how long we're all going to be in here, trapped in this game. I wish I knew what was going on outside, in the world. How was my family coping with having me gone? I wonder if my dad knows that I'm stuck here. What am I thinking? He doesn't care about us, me, my mother or my sister. My thoughts we're interrupted when I saw someone being attacked.

They wore a large dark hood and I couldn't see their face, they were fighting back, making alot of yells and breathing, I crouched down on the tree branch I saw sat on. Who would be out here if they couldn't handle themselves? I watched for a little while, deciding whether or not to intervene.

Their health bar was doing okay, about half of it was there. But they were losing a fight with a level 10 ent now, I still couldn't decide what to do, then my mind was made up.

I began to hear whimpering, like someone was scared or crying. I knew it was coming from the hooded figure, I jumped from the tree branch I was posted on. As I fell down, I realised there was alot more than one ent, there was at least 4 of them.

Landing in front of the mystery person, I did a slash across the closest ent's face, I didn't make a sound as I did so. "Wh-what?" I heard a nervous feminine voice from behind me. My sword glowed white as I jumped up and dug it into the ent's skull, if ents even have skulls, it reacted quickly by slashing my leg with it's battle axe. I fell back to the ground and returned the favour. I looked over at the mystery player to see how they were coping with their end.

They were fighting back, still breathing heavily, they must be scared. I continued with a few more slashes onto the ent's legs until it finally disappeared in a dispersal of blue particles. 1 down, 4 to go.

Just as I was thinking that, I noticed the stranger had gotten another to low heath, but there was one more about to attack them from behind. I sped over and cut off alot of the branches, then cut it from the top-right to the top-left and it disappeared into blue particles. Peering over my shoulder, I became aware that the unknown prisoner had defeated the second-last one.

The last was now attacking my now cowering partner in combat, I gathered up my strength and jumped in front of its attack, leaving a heavy gash over my chest. Grabbing my chest in pain I stabbed the ent in the hip, dropped my sword and fell to my knees in pain, as the pain from my leg began to make its self known at the same moment.

I released a grunt as I got back to my feet and turned to hear someone speak, "A-a-are you okay..?" their voice was feminine and timid, like they didn't want to offend me by being concerned. "Yeah, I'm fine." I lied and stood to my feet, resisting the urge to scream. "Th-thank you, mister." She held her hands together, "Why were you out here by yourself, if you were so scared?" I slipped out.

After I realised I'd probably just insulted the, what I assume to be, girl, I tried to apologise but was interrupted, "I-I was... I... I got lost." The hooded figure turned away from me, "Why did you help me..? W-why risk your own life to save another's?" She asked nervously.

I thought over how to respond to that, I knew myself as well as she did. "I guess I'm not one to watch someone else die, if I can help someone, I will. By the way, I'm Toru. Toruigaya." I extended my hand for her to shake and gave her a reassuring smile, she motioned her hand towards mine but quickly jolted it back. "I-I'm... Natsu." She sounded so hollow and depressed.

**Sorry for the sudden ending, I COULD NOT think of a good way to end this one. I would like to say one last thing, I may be adding links to pictures on my deviantart, only where appropriate I have a few drawn already and will upload them later, anyways, thanks for the read, see ya in the next one!**

**-Laiver, out!**


	8. Chapter 8 - The Forest

**AN: IT'S BACK BABY, even if the chapter has gone down, I had fun writing this one, well most of it. So, maybe it can come back for real, uploading as fast as I used too! Enjoy the chapter! Imma go play Escapists!**

"Well, you should get out of this forest." I advised her, still gripping my chest, "Want me to come with you to help you get out? I mean, I know you can handle yourself, but, you seemed... Scared." She nodded slightly. The wind blew slightly and her hood fell down, I finally got to see what this person looked like. She had faded fern eyes, short auburn hair, with one long thick strand over her right eye and a small thin over strand just over her left. Overall, there was nothing to be ashamed of, so why wear such a big cloak?

"How's your speed?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow and twiddling with my jacket. "Not as fast as yours, but p-probably enough to keep up." I swung up onto one of the trees and scoped the area, as I had done many times before. "Hmm, looks like a good direction to take over this way." I proceed to jump down and point to the way I meant, so she could actually see what I was talking about. "O-okay, let's go." She started ahead, running at an astonishing pace; I think I was actually struggling to keep up once I had made my legs move toward her at full speed.

"Wow, you lied to me! That, is the definition of crazy speed!" I was squinting, trying to see through the pool of hair flowing in my eyes as I sped up even faster, realising I had levelled up back there and could now run a pace faster. She didn't seem to hear me, or if she did, she wasn't in a talking mood. I guess I had alot on my mind, being late, meeting Miya again and fighting Kaita, it was a little much to have seen in one day...

I thought about topic 1, which should have been the most important topic but, it really wasn't, not to me. The battle for the second floor was probably still going on, I wonder just how many players were lost today, I wonder just how strong the floor 1 boss is. How are they holding up right now? And just how many of them are going up against it.

I switched my mindset over to topic 2, Miya. She was in a guild now with a bunch of gossipy girls, that's not where she belongs, to be honest, I'd feel sorry for her if it wasn't for Kaita, he should keep them all in line, he seemed like the other odd one in the... "Inverted Rose" guild. As I was thinking that I realised Natsu had slowed down, almost to a stop.

It was only seconds after I had picked up on this that I also noticed there was a huge tree branch stretching out right in front of me, and I was still running...

"Uggh" I yelled as I was thrown backwards from the impact, and my health levels dropped slightly. The usual 'Immortal Object' appeared in a purple stretched hexagon next the branch. I peered under it to see that this was right where the forest ended. "Looks like this is the way out. Lucky we didn't run into any m-monsters" she said quietly, as if she wasn't sure whether to say it... "Well, then I followed you out." I stated the obvious, followed by a few questions, "What now? You got somewhere rented or a house even? What 'cha gunna do after this?" It was only then I turned around to see her gone, without a trace of being there at all. "Well... That's... Wow..."

I walked back to the town and bought a few things, potions and such. By the time I had finished my little shopping trip, it was getting dark, I walked back into the forest only to see someone walking towards me, Miya. "Hi." I said slowly as if I was dense, "Um, Hi, found you again didn't I?" she said with a smile, "It's getting late, why are you going into the forest, again?" I turned a little more so she could see me, "Err... Just some late night monster hunting." She cocked her head to one side, "Really? Didn't you just spend most of the day doing that?" I noticed she probably thought I'd just come back out, the time I spent running with Natsu was just monster-hunting.

"Yeah, yeah, but I feel like I'm gunna need more levels, I mean, we are heading for floor 2, you know. There's bound to be some announcement tomorrow, that 'We finally made it to floor 2 and can continue up and beat the 100th boss, eventually' or what not." I said loudly flailing my hands around awkwardly. "I won't hunt long; You go get some rest or whatever." She paused for a second, then said, "Okay, but hurry and get back to your room okay? I'll-"she hesitated again, "see you tomorrow?" I thought about it for a second, that's all it took.

"Sure, meet you here at 9, sounds good?" She agreed and we said our goodbyes, I walked into the forest and hung my head low. I hated lying to people; I guess I just didn't want her worrying about me while I was out here, if she would worry. I would, if it was her. I hopped up onto my trees and slung off my scabbard. I then lay down in my 'birds nest' and shut my eyes.

Yes, this is where I slept; this was 'home' to me, not that I wanted an old tree to sleep in, but because, well, the inns were getting just too expensive and I don't have the money for them anymore. I lied to her about having an inn so she wouldn't worry about me sleeping in a tree.

Once again, poor, even in a virtual world I can't have a nice house...


	9. Chapter 9 - Absent Mind

**AN: Hey again, friends! Here is Chapter Nine, yes, I AM BACK BABEH! This is definitely my favourite so far, got some great laughs writing this, so it's safe to say, I am back for real now! also, about those pictures I said I might do: _TheIronScyther_, that's my deviantart name. What I have done so far is an OKAY drawing of a FINAL Toru, his final look that I have planned, keep in mind that the one in here still has a black jacket and no scarf, nore those swords. Anyways, that is the account I will be posting art of my characters, already have a 90% completed picture of Toru and Miya, just needs a background.**

**Also, fixed it, the writing is no longer in paragraphs, realised how hard that might be to read, it is now like any other FF you may find on this 'site, I will be re-uploading the past chapters in this format, possibly changing the story a LITTLE bit while doing it.**

** Imma stop rambling now, Enjoy Chapter 9 - Absent Mind.**

**PLEASE READ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^IMPORTANT STUFF FOR ONCE!**

When my eyes finally opened, I was astonished. First of all, I was back in real life, in a hospital room, in front of me, was me... My real body, in the bed, hooked up to God knows how many machines, no doubt keeping alive right now. But the thing that really got to me, was those around my body, my family was so sad. They both looked down at me, my sister and mother, probably over the crying part of it by now, it has been over a month...

I reached out for them, or I tried to. My limbs wouldn't do anything, it felt as if I was moving them, but nothing was happening: All I could do was watch, watch as my family wondered what was going on inside that machine, how the game worked, how I was doing, if I was going to die in the next few seconds. The worry must be killing them inside. I finally made myself move towards them, I ran at my sister, ready to hug her and assure her and mother that I'd be fine, I'd make it out. The instant I made contact with her, I saw white.

My eyes instantly burst open and I fell out of my tree. The ground was soaking, the rain was pouring down, hadn't thought of something like this happening. "NO!" I screamed at the sky and slammed myself into the ground in defeat. I remember my promise to get out, that promise was for them, I'd make it out here and see them again, I have to.

I made up my mind to think of another topic, to stop myself from crying: Sakura and Sari.

We had travelled a bit after the so called 'training' had finished. Miya and I had kept to ourselves, not speaking much with anyone else, not even each other. Eventually, Sakura and Sari had left, Sakura wanted to leave alone, but Sari insisted he 'Guard' her.

Their reasoning for leaving us was something about us being too big a weight to 'carry', calling us weak. Sakura was too broody for my liking, but I doubt that's how he really is, I'm pretty sure he's been through alot.

I lost myself in thought and ended up falling asleep in the mud. Except this time, with no dreams, or nightmares, at least, not to memory.

Once again, I flashed awake, suddenly aware of everything around me. I took my time to climb back up into my 'home' and grab my scabbard, still had alot on my mind. Once I had got it and crawled down, I took a stroll into the town that I assume Miya got a room in; Maybe I should find where that is. I checked the clock in my vision: '7:30' another early morning it is then.

I took a seat on a bench and thought of what to do. After around 10 minutes, when I had cycled through many ideas, none of which seemed worth doing, I was wasting time, sat here doing nothing, I eventually settled on just taking a walk. As I got up and started walking, I remembered the time Miya had came up with this same idea and we'd just been for a midnight stroll, that was nice.

After, not even 5 minutes of walking slowly, a jolt of realization passed my mind. The floor 1 boss raid...

It seemed like the second this came into mind, everyone was talking about it, newspapers, announcements. You name it, they were there.

They all spoke of 'a dark-haired beater pretty much taking down the beast by himself', I was curious to ask what a "beater" was, but decided against it.

I fled, as fast as I possibly could, and set course for the first town. Speeding past monsters of all types seen on the first floor, I wasn't that far from it, only in «Tolbana».

As I sped past a nearby boar, I unsheathed «Gleaming Point» and slashed the full-length of its side, killing it instantly. The «Reward Window» appeared infront of me, giving me almost nothing, as I was over-leveled for floor 1.

My excitement levels grew as I reached the first town; I once again checked the clock imbedded into my vision '8:10' about half an hour it had taken me to reach here. Suddenly I remembered something;

Miya had asked me to meet her today, I was supposed to be there 10 minutes ago...

"I'm such an idiot!" I shouted, face palming and spinning around to run back the other way, as much as I wanted to start exploring the 2nd floor, I wasn't the kind of person to ditch friends.

After another full run, I was spent. I speed-walked to the area that I was supposed to meet Miya, gripping my side from all the running.

When I came to the area we were supposed to meet, she wasn't there, no wonder, it was now '8:40'

I felt really guilty, she seemed like she really wanted to see me again today, for whatever reason, and I'd let her down.

I began searching everywhere, asking anyone if they had seen her. When I eventually found her, I was really shocked...

She was sat on the floor, leaning against a building wall, hugging her knees with her arms outstretched at each opposite side. Not too far from where she'd asked me to meet up.

"M-Miya...?" I said, almost un-heard by even myself. For some reason I wanted to just walk away and pretend I hadn't seen her, why would I even think that?

I walked over to her slowly and whispered "Hey... Sorry I didn't make it here..." I trailed off, when I heard quiet sobs coming from Miya, "W-What's wrong...?" She lifted her head slightly and looked at me.

"Why... Why didn't you, come..? Why are you avoiding me again...?" She said in a pained tone. I took a step back, "A-avoiding you? Wha-" She cut me off, "Don't act like you're not, just... Just tell me why!"

I was now wide-eyed with shock, "I'm not! I just, I heard about the 2nd floor and forgot! I was too excited... I'm sorry, but, why are you crying? I don't understand, Miya..."

She buried her face back in her knees and said, "You've been ignoring me since-since, not to long after we met Sakura, you just stopped talking to me, then, you abandoned me without saying a word..."

She curled up even tighter and I slid my back down the wall and sat about a metre from her, "We've seen each other a few times since then, you clearly looked at me and then walked away without any reason, you never said 'hi' waved or anything. I-I got so worried something had happened to you..."

My guilt started to build up even further now, I squeezed my eyes shut and leaned forward, "W-When I finally approached you before you could leave the other day, and you actually spoke to me, I thought we could be friends again, then you were a total asshole to my guild..."

At this point, I could hear the anger sneaking into her voice, and just as soon as it had came, it left again "When you said we'd meet up again, I thought for sure that you would be nice to me again, I thought I'd have my friend back. When you didn't show up, I just thought maybe you'd got held up by something, I began to get even more worried about you, when it reached half past, I knew you weren't coming-"

"But I did!" I said loudly, reaching for her hand, "I'm sorry, I was selfish, I never thought about how this was affecting you, I'm such an idiot." I held her hand in both of mine and her head moved up with a surprised look.

I quieted down and started to talk slow "I don't even think I remember seeing you those times, I'll admit, everything has been spinning for a while now, I'm just... Not adjusted to life in a game, so-so I... I haven't been paying attention, it's probably going to get me killed" I began chuckling at the end.

She just stared at me, in... Amazement...? I don't know, she was staring though.

I stood up and held out my hand for her to get up, remembering that time shortly after we'd met, I felt weird helping up someone I'd just met, so I let go straight after she'd gotten on her feet, but this time, when she took my hand and stood up, it was different, knowing she cared that much, I'd probably go as far as calling her my best friend.

I smiled, she looked down for a few seconds, then back at me, "Hey...? Can we go to the 2nd floor now...?" I gritted my teeth and unintentionally looked as awkward as possible, "Yeah... Well running all the way to the gate and back kinda wore me out, I'm spent."

She raised an eyebrow, "Wait, you ran all the way back, why?" I explained to her that I was already there and when I remembered my promise to meet her I ran back even faster than I had getting there.

"Come to think of it, that was probably faster than I thought I could run at this level, strange." She giggled and asked what we were going to do instead. "Can we just relax? I can't be bothered killing about 18 boars only to get 1 level."

She smiled at that comment, "Well, relax doing what?" she asked me mockingly.

"Well, I don't know. Let's just do what people do in real life, shop, find a decent restaurant, socialize, and maybe later we could do some quests?" I mocked back.

After we did some shopping and got something to eat, we went out into a dungeon, it was filled with level 4 skeletons, carrying «Bone Shotels» they travelled around in packs, like wolves and were actually quite tuff, but I bet not as tuff as the monsters in floor 2.

"Miya, 6 o'clock!" I signalled for Miya to attack the skeleton behind her, she swept around and cut its right arm off, which was alot of use as most of the skeletons are left handed, it kicked her in the leg and hit her to the ground, she swiped her rapier, «Lilac Embracer» into its foot, causing it to lose balance and fall into its comrade, one that I was already fighting.

It went on like this for hours, when we finally came out of the dungeon, it was '11:28' at night, I had levelled up to 16 while Miya was now 17, still ahead of me. We walked the inn she had booked; It wasn't far from the forest my tree was in.

"Well, it was nice talking to you again, I'll see you tomorrow, I'll actually BE THERE this time, same time?" I chuckled, I received a blush and a slight nod from Miya, "Well, I'll see you then, goodnight." I walked away and heard the door close behind me.

I walked the path back to my forest, and hopped into my tree, "I wish I could have a nice inn to sleep in, like her." At this point, I started to hear rustlings, like I was being watched by someone in the bushes below my little tree, I unsheathed my sword.

"Hello!? I know you're there, come out where I can see you." And to my astonishment, she did. It was Miya, "What are you doing? Why are you sleeping in a tree...?" She questioned me.

"I-I... Well, you see I... Fine, I'll come clean; I'm just as poor here as I am in the real world, I can't afford any of the inns around this area. "Well why didn't you tell me? C'mon... Get your stuff, let's go."

I pulled a confused face as she turned away and started walking, "Wait what? Go where...?" she didn't turn all the way back around, instead of looking at me, directed her gaze a little away from me, "T-To my inn..." she blushed slightly for some reason, "Wait, what? You have two beds in there?" I quickly shook my head of some messed-up thoughts.

"W-Well, no but," My eyes widened in shook at what I thought she was going to say, "wouldn't you rather sleep on a couch, inside than outside in a tree..?" I let out a sigh of relief after she had finished her question, "Yeah, of course I would, thanks a bunch!" I hopped off of my tree after gathering my scruffy blanket and a few other things.

We walked back into the inn I would be residing in and, once we were inside, Miya asked me if I wanted to shower or anything, "Wait a minute, how have you been showering...?" My eyes widened, my turn to blush. "Weeell... Let's just say I'm gunna go shower now..." She laughed and went to get changed in another room.

After I had finished my shower, I got changed into my same old, plain starter-wear PJs and walked into the living room of the place, it had a small TV, guess she wasn't the wealthiest person here either. But the place was better than any inns I'd rented, especially the one we'd been in before.

I walked around looking for her, going into a couple other rooms before finding myself in her bed room. She was already asleep on her bed; I smiled and found myself only just how beautiful she was. I shook my head again, man what is wrong with me today...?

I walked back into the living room, got my blanket and lay on the couch, this was great, this first time I'd slept inside in a week, and also the first time I'd showered in a week too!


End file.
